Editorial

E d i tor i a l

Second chances are for the prudent Every new day of Lent is a time to grow stronger smarter, taller and freer than we have ever dreamed we could be.

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here is no chance which does not return,” says a French proverb. But in daily life, it looks as if we are starting everything anew all the time; every day, every minute. We keep starting a new day, a new friendship, new jobs, new adventures and of course, new problems __ just when we thought we are done with the old ones. I can never forget how angry I used to be as a small boy when my mother repeatedly gave some household chores which I disliked. I always like to innovate and tried to do new things. I hated my teachers who made me study the boring lessons again and again. I hated the idlys of Tamilnadu when I was a kid and refused to have them for breakfast when offered every day, unless I was too hungry and there was no other choice. Just when you are about to relax after a heavy dosage of work, there crops up the next trouble, another hurdle and a huge problem. You are surrounded by problems all over again and find yourself in a critical juncture. You are back to square one to start everything all over again. We hate doing things again if they are not what we wanted to do in life. Finding yourself in a pool trouble is not what we dream for.

At the same time we know that we like to do the things that we cherish most. We don’t mind doing them again and again if we have some personal or selfish interest in that. We do not hesitate to spend money, time and energy to make an attempt once again. We even go on to say, “ If only I get another chance I will certainly perform well.” More than all our theoretical lessons, we learn to grasp the secrets of life better after a few experiences of failures. In fact we could finally get everything right—and it would be so much easier the second time around. But, we go in search of new avenues, new chances, new experiences and new relationships. We keep experimenting with new things in life. We know we are not going to do things again and again eternally. We know that we will not get second chances all the time. In fact we will not be able to take back the harsh and angry words aimed at someone. We cannot give out mercy and kindness when we were too busy or insensitive. But, when we are in the fear of tradition and routine, there is a new and fresh invitation from life to lead an innovative life and to start afresh. Chris Benguhe says, “In actuality, however, we are all getting second chances over and over again every time we wake up and take a breath. May not always with the same people or the same situations, but with the same heart and soul that we are constantly Don bosco march 2009

challenged to expand. Instead of fearing or dreading those chances let’s reap them for what they really are.” Lent is a second chance given to us. Every new day of Lent is a time to grow stronger smarter, taller and freer than we have ever dreamed we could be. Let us let go of the regrets over the past and stop trying to fix the old issues. Instead let us learn a new way of handling our future. Even if the hard work on our side does not pay results, the smart work we put in will pay much results. All we need to do is to be very sincere with our own conscience. Lord Acton once said, “ You can fool some people all the time; all the people sometime; but not all the people all the time.” You can never successfully make use of the second chances if you are fooling around with yourself. You cannot escape from life’s pressing problems all your life. You will not be given chances to prove yourself endlessly It is true, according to the French proverb, that there will not be a chance which will not return. But, chance fights ever on the side of the prudent. Only the prudent will know the benefits of the season of Lent that makes us spiritually agile and pure again.

Glorious Steve sdb Editor 

E d i tor i a l

The only sensual pleasure without vice “M usic, the greatest good that mortals know, and all of heaven we have below,” said Addison, in his ‘Song for Ceceilia’s day’. Whether you admit it or not, music imbeds our daily life, weaving its beauty and emotion through our thoughts, activities and memories. If you’ve paid much attention to how you respond to a variety of music, you may have noticed that some music seems to energize you, some music can move you to tears or spark a special memory of a time, place, food, or perhaps a certain person. Some music seems to make you relax, feel less stressed, and feel happier. And some music fills you with deep spiritual attunement. If you look on the Internet or go into your nearby audio store you are likely to find music labeled “Healing Music.” The section may include music for relaxation, meditation, stress reduction, pain relief or tapping into one’s soul. There may be a variety of instruments or sounds from a forest or the ocean. So what makes this music “healing music?” Music has a way of stirring our innermost feelings and all of our senses, of tapping into parts of ourselves unlike anything else. Music is a universal language that has the ability to speak to us deeply and uniquely because of its healing qualities. That is what John Logan meant when he said, “Music is the medicine of the mind.” It is a sweet and healing balm of troubles.

I remember watching “Titanic” and its gorgeous love theme that permeates throughout the movie and throughout ourselves with its bittersweetness, generating the beauty of love and the tragedy of the massive ship’s sinking and loss of so many lives. It is because emotion is the sphere of music more than thought.

One aspect of “healing” music is to stir our feelings, to help us deal with grief, sadness, anger or other feelings. By allowing ourselves to ‘feel’ those feelings, the intensity will eventually lessen and even dissipate, resulting in being healing for us. When we avoid our feelings, consciously or subconsciously, they nonetheless tend to build up inside. They don’t just go away. Music can be a tool to help us deal with feelings within us, whether we’re aware of them or not. This is one of the wonderful ways music can be incredibly healing. In ‘The Mozart Effect,’ Don Campbell talks about using music in a variety of ways throughout the day, in the morning to help energize us, throughout the day to help us focus or concentrate better, music to help our intelligence, and in the evening to help us relax. What exactly is “relaxing” music? Whether we are aware of it or not, music that’s relaxing tends to slow down our heart rates to about one beat per second. If we’re feeling stressful, angry, anxious, or irritable, our heart rates tend to increase. Music can actually help our heart rates slow down to a more relaxing pace, changing our physiology. This phenomenon is what can help people fall asleep more easily. That is what is found with many meditation tapes Don bosco june 2008

or other music specifically designed for stress reduction or relaxation. Chanting has existed for centuries. For example, there are wonderful recordings of Gregorian chants, Indian chants, chants sung by Catholic or Buddhist monks and other religious or secular groups. They tend to be repetitive with the goal of deepening our spiritual lives, whatever they may be, or at the very least, to help bring peaceful feelings into our beings. There is a large variety of music that taps into our souls. Listening to music has been a truly inspirational journey, one that has been incredibly healing. It reaches the soul directly to give a healing touch. All that we need to do is to pay attention to our responses to a variety of music - physically, mentally, spiritually. Music does things that even human beings cannot do at times because of the space that it creates for you to be yourself. When someone enters your life you are happy. But, slowly he/she takes away your time, energy, space and your possessions. Instead music fills you with enough riches: memories, feelings, rejuvenation and make you energised so that you take on anything with ease. A new song can reflect a new way of being without creating side effects, and a new way of imagining life in the world. This is what music means to all of us. We can say with Samuel Johnson that music is the “only sensual pleasure without vice.”

Glorious Steve sdb Editor 

E d i tor i a l

Work and Temperance T

he rate of inflation is going higher and higher. A couple of months ago the rate of inflation had just crossed 7 per cent, and that was the highest price rise witnessed in the previous 40 months. There was an air of acute despair amongst top Congress leaders since no easy options seemed to be available to the government to control the surge in prices of a wide range of commodities, including most staple food items. Today, the prime minister and his senior cabinet colleagues would probably be very happy to give up their salaries for a month or two if they could turn the clock back to April! The rate of inflation has now touched a mind-boggling 11 per cent. And what is worse is that the future looks just as bleak as it was in April. No one can predict when the process of spiralling prices will come to an end. We know that the current inflationary process is a global phenomenon and practically every country is suffering. Nominal prices of oil have increased by 150 per cent. Food prices keep rising and pressure keeps mounting on families. In simple terms, the world economy is just not producing enough to satisfy rising world demands. Emerging and developing countries have been growing significantly faster than the rest of the world, and there has been a steep surge in demand in these countries. This has been a major cause for the rise in world demand because the economies in most developed countries have been stagnating. Since there is no reason to believe that world production will rise miraculously at least in the immediate

future, many people expect that prices will keep on rising. These expectations in turn exacerbate the inflationary process. Households buy more of non-perishable goods than they need for their immediate consumption because they expect prices to go up even further. What can the government do under these circumstances? In the short run, it is not easy to increase domestic supply. So, its policies must be aimed at reducing aggregate demand. Of course, attempts to restrict demand will obviously have some adverse consequences for growth. People are not accustomed to give up their desire to hoard up. We got used to linking growth with more and more acquisition of wealth. There is no magic cure-all solution for all times and all economies. But when inflation rages at close to double digit figures, clearly the only sensible solution is to lower the consumerism level and to produce more with our capacity to work all the harder. While contractionary monetary policies will have some effect on the general level of prices, more needs to be done in order to reduce food prices. Unfortunately, there are no easy options, partly because of the past sins of the government. Krishna Iyer once said, “ In times of crisis, the democracy of India was safeguarded not by the educated rascals; but, by the ordinary simple people who toiled and sacrificed even their basic needs.” Desperate times call for desperate measures. The government’s efforts to buy small quantities of food grain from world markets which will also signal to domestic traders that the government is determined to curb prices. This in turn may induce traders to release additional quantities because of fears that hoarding would no longer be profitable. Don bosco july 2008

Apart from government machinary’s efforts, what is going to be the measures taken by individuals who are part of this government? The salesian constitution Article 18 has something important not only for critical moments like current inflation, but. It gives a general norm for life. It speaks of work and temperance: “Work and temperance will make the Congregation flourish”, whereas the seeking of an easy and comfortable life will instead bring about its death. The Salesian gives himself to his mission with tireless energy, taking care to do everything with simplicity and moderation. He knows that by his work he is participating in the creative action of God and cooperating with Christ in building the Kingdom. Temperance gives him the strength to control his heart, to himself and remain even-tempered. He does not look for unusual penances but accepts the daily demands and renunciations of the apostolic life. He is ready to suffer cold and heat, hunger and thirst, weariness and disdain whenever God’s glory and the salvation of souls require it.” Hard work is the hallmark of any development. Similarly is the curbing of desire to acquire. Giving into ease and comfort will make us die a slow death. We had learnt to grow fast; now is the time to device pace suitable for our growth. Temperance is the key to a stable growth. These are difficult times particularly for the families. But, let us continue to work and follow temperance. That is all that we need to arrest any inflation.

Glorious Steve sdb Editor 

E d i tor i a l

Use Skills, Not Pills S

tress is the most commonly used word in today’s busy world. Many health hazards are immediately connected to stress. While it is said to affect the most busy business people, the reality that it affects even children who are burdened with too many lessons to study and too many home works to complete, saddens us. Some people want to reduce their stress so much that they are willing to pay large sums of money to do so. People spend thousands of rupees needlessly on stress vitamins, tranquillising pills, sleeping pills and many more products in the hope of eliminating the harmful effects of stress on their health. Sometimes stress becomes really severe, in spite of all your efforts. Then even small details become overwhelming. If you find yourself chronically unable to function because stress is so overwhelming, it may be time to seek outside help. Perhaps that is the time when people caught in stress begin to look for any product or service that can bring you a little relaxation and tranquillity. Today one needs to be aware that any product or service that can bring you relaxation can take your money, and make empty promises that it will bring a soothing relaxation. “It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it,” said General Douglas MacArthur. Stress is the by product of entering into a war without a will

to win. For those who are determined to win and courageously enter into any risk, stress has no place.

stress which in turn may bring additional problems, it is better to opt for a simpler and personal solution to the problem.

Wise time management can also help you to minimise stress. When students say that they spent all week studying for their exams, it actually means that they spent six days worrying about the exams and just spent one day studying. Thus, instead of worrying too much if we can make the best use of time, stress can be released.

The exact opposite of the stress response is the relaxation response. This response reduces blood pressure, slows the pulse, quells anxiety, and releases tension. Relaxation permits your body to recover from the effects of stress, and you can will it to happen, even in the midst of a stressful situation. You can relax anywhere, any time. You can simply tune into a tranquillising thought or word and relax. For most people, though, relaxation is first learned through a formal exercise.

All of us, at certain moments of our lives, need to take advice and to receive help from other people. Perhaps you can choose the moments of stress to listen to others and humbly receive some helps from others, so that you don’t lose your inner peace and calm. Helen Keller said, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Perhaps stressful moments open new horizons for anyone caught in stress. The saddest reality is that those under stress remain looking at the door that is closed instead of the new horizon that has opened up. Stress comes into the life of so many people primarily because many of us want to be men of success rather than men full of values. Human mind can easily work out a clear plan without taxing your mind or body in such a way that it can lead us to a stress free life. Instead of relying too much on the artificial ways of removing Don bosco SEPTEMBER 2008

Leonardo Da Vinci said, “Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.” You need to develop many personal skills to handle your stress. The best relaxation will always come not from outside, but from inside. Because, relaxation, happiness and peace are inside jobs. The skills you develop to handle your worries will guard you against stress. Relax! Enjoy your life! For tranquillity,

Glorious Steve sdb Editor 

E d i tor i a l

And then...they came for the christians...

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hile the whole nation was just trying to recover from the economic crisis, a fresh political storm has set in in the name of religion. It looks as if the words ‘religion’, ‘God,’ ‘Swami,’ and ‘priest,’ can easily set fire to the whole nation more than any other fire accidents. While the former sets fire and rifts people apart the latter only destroys the property and not so much the people with flesh and blood; people with heart and soul and conscience. The great nation that claimed that it was tolerant for centuries towards any religion, kings and empires, proves now that such tolerance and goodness are over with the bygone ages. This seems to be a new era. Intolerance is the order of the day. Anything can kindle fire to appease the political thirst of the parties particularly the BJP, RSS and VHP that use religion for political gain. The recent attacks on Christians and churches come as a retaliation for the killing of swami Lakshmanananda and outside Orissa and practically in many parts of India as a retaliation for conversions to Christianity. No BJP leader has as yet condemned or even regretted the attacks on churches. In an article, ‘It’s time to act, Mr Advani,’ written by Raghu Krishnan that appeared in THE ECONOMIC TIMES on 21 September, 2008 commented like this: “Those of us Hindus who studied in convent schools and continue to be Hindus will know how irrational the argument is that the recent attacks on churches in Orissa

and Karnataka was a response to an attempt at forcibly converting members of the majority community. Even if the Bajrang Dal activists claim they were upset by what they perceived as forcible conversion, the logical response should have been to bring this to the notice of the state governments.” He continues, “If its governments in Karnataka and MP cannot even prevent attacks on churches while investigating complaints of forcible conversion, then how can the party keep claiming that a BJP-led national government will protect the entire country from serial blasts by diabolical terrorists!” And if there are recent reports that some Christian missionary somewhere is involved in an attempt at forcible conversion, it should not take too long for an experienced national leader like Mr Advani to have things sorted out through administrative measures, especially in BJPruled states. Just nine years and two months ago, when the BJP-led NDA ruled the nation, its leaders inspired young soldiers of all faiths to fight and die for the country while evicting armed cross-border intruders from the frozen heights of Kargil. Surely, some 110 months later, it should not be too difficult for a national leader like Mr Advani to ensure that the unity and integrity of the country is not harmed by unruly activists who think that vandalising a church or any other place of religious worship in a BJP-ruled state is what 21st century India is all about! While the BJP, RSS and VHP groups have lost the control of their senses, there is still another question that deeply arises: What Don bosco october 2008

is quietly happening to the Christian community that is known for its unity? Not many years ago Muslims were attacked. Mosques were demolished and Christians kept quiet about it. They thought that Christians will never be attacked. We wake up to see the Christian Community under attack in many parts of India. This immediately reminded me of the poem “First they came…” which is attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group: “In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist; And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist; And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew; And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.” Times have ripened for attacks on Christians. We have been studying about the various attacks in history on Communists, Muslims, and Jews. This time they came for the Christians… Unfortunately, to their astonishment, they found them divided. Our divisions based on language, caste, creed and greed are killing the Christians more than any external force. The pity is that we are not united when they came for the Christians.

Glorious Steve sdb Editor